Saturday, March 14, 2009

Where's my bailout?

OK, this has gone way too far.

The Times' Joe Nocera reports the victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme think the federal government should put them in queue with AIG, Citigroup, GM and the rest of the reckless types who have lost gazillions through investments.

And I'm sure those folks, who include really fine and upstanding people like Elie Wiesel, think their pain is greater than that of the folks who gambled and lost on subprime mortgages.

So, as a run-of-the-mill investor who put my retirement funds away in traditional mutual funds that have tanked as the stock market has headed the Hades, I have to ask -- who is going to make me whole?

I lost my money honestly -- not because I believed a true-good-to-be-true investing scheme or home mortgage deal. I did not spend lavishly on corporate jets or luxury cars or lavish spa treatment. I will put off retirement until I can afford it again.

So as the strains of Jimmy Buffett fade from the radio as I type these words, let's me paraphrase as I join Nocera and say "It's your own damn fault."